'The Wonder' review: A slow-burner that makes you think

The Wonder

English (Netflix)

Director: Sebastian Lelio

Cast: Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Kila Lord Cassidy

Rating: 4/5

Without much fanfare, Netflix has quietly released another brilliant film on the platform, maybe banking on the principle that 'film will speak for itself'. Oscar-winning filmmaker Sebastián Lelio's 'The Wonder', starring Florence Pugh and newcomer Kíla Lord Cassidy on principal roles, is a film that gets better and better once you finish watching the film and start to reminisce.

The film opens with a bizarre 'fourth-wall-breaking' scene where the character of Pugh requests the audience to believe the story that will follow. But what unveils in the next 100 minutes is not even remotely unrealistic or hard to believe as such. The question remains why the filmmaker is breaking the fourth wall, but that is just one of the things to ponder over after this immersive psychological drama.

Based on Emma Donoghue's (Writer of 'The Room') eponymous novel, 'The Wonder' tells the story of an English nurse (Florence Pugh) sent to an Irish village to observe a young girl (Kíla Lord Cassidy) who is seemingly able to survive without consuming any food. Though it appears as a out-and-out thriller storyline, Lelio and his co-screenwriters Donoghue and Alice Birch add multiple layers to the drama, bringing blind faith, extreme religiosity, superstitions, and felonies, face-to-face with rationality, science and justice.

The film takes the viewers not only on a ride through rural Ireland of mid 19th century, but also lets us feel the plain terrains, meet not-so-pleasant people out there in order to become totally invested in the story. Aiding this significantly is the adequate but hitting background score by Matthew Herbert who nowhere attempts to unnecessarily enhance the film's mood on the compulsions of a showy period drama.

Florence Pugh, for a highly rated actor that she is, looks effortless on screen as she pulls off a captivating performance excelling in a range of tough and soft emotions. Another performance that equally stands out is of 9-year-old Kíla Lord Cassidy's, who plays the role of child who is not eating any food.

'The Wonder' is the kind of film which needs its viewers to be patient with it, and once it has your attention, it takes you deep into many domains and leaves you with a plate of ample food for thoughts.